And yet, as he listened to the draft unfold and waited to hear his name called, the questions no doubt began to creep into his mind: Am I good enough? Did I do enough?

With each passing round, the doubt became a little stronger, and the tension in the room a little thicker: When will my name be called? Will it be called at all?

By the 25th round, after hearing hundreds and hundreds of names called, Shank had had enough. He walked out of the kitchen, plopped on the couch and turned on the television, looking for something, anything, to take his mind off the draft.

And it's too bad he did. After listing to all those hundreds of names get called, he didn't even get to hear his own.

The Seattle Mariners selected the slick-fielding, steady-hitting shortstop in the 28th round with the 837th overall pick.

And all at once, the Shank household was overcome with jubilance -- and, most likely, a fair amount of relief as well.

"I just hear my dad slam the counter and scream `Yes!,'" Shank recalled. "I figured at that point that my name had been called. My mother was running through the house screaming. It was wild. I don't think I could move for like 10 minutes. I was just in shock."

The weeks and months that followed were a whirlwind, as Shank embarked on his first season as a professional ballplayer.

Shank and his family traveled to Danbury this past weekend to attend the Westerners' Hot Stove Breakfast on Saturday at Two Steps Downtown Grille. And he was happy to share his experiences from what was a memorable and productive rookie season.

Shank started the season with the Pulaski (Va.) Mariners of the rookie-level Appalachian League. He played in 52 games for Pulaski and batted .230 with 11 doubles, five triples, one homer, 19 runs batted in, 21 walks and nine stolen bases while only making five errors in the field.

Toward the end of the season, he was promoted to the Clinton (Iowa) LumberKings, the Mariners' Single-A affiliate in the Midwest League. In eight games with Clinton, Shank batted .286 with a homer, four RBIs and a stolen base while committing two errors.

And at the end of it all, Shank's rookie season was one big learning experience, and, he hopes, one step on the road to the big leagues.

"I got to work through some slumps and work through some good times," he said, "and just gaining that experience for my first year will really help me in the future. And it was a blast. I couldn't really ask for more."

And spending the summer of 2012 in Danbury, criss-crossing New England on a bus day after day with the Westerners, helped prepare him for life in the minor leagues.

"The travel schedule in Danbury was probably harder than it was in Pulaski," he said. "I think our furthest game in Pulaski was three hours, and we played series, so we would stay overnight in a hotel. But here, it was one game at a time. We would drive to Vermont and drive straight back after the game."

In 40 regular-season games with the Westerners, the NECBL All-Star batted .308 with 12 doubles, one triple, four homers, 25 RBIs and 13 stolen bases while making just three errors. In seven playoff games, he batted .462 as the Westerners reached the Fay Vincent Cup finals, where they were swept by the Newport Gulls.

"It was a good step up in competition from college," Shank said of the NECBL. "It helped prepare me in that way. Seeing it every day, it starts to become normal. You make your adjustments and it helps you become a better ballplayer. And I think this is really where I got put on the map and seen by scouts."

In his senior season at Marist, Shank started all 52 games for the Red Foxes, batted a team-best .370 and was a first-team All-Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference selection. He played in 200 games in his Marist career, starting 195, and holds the school record for assists with 681. He also ranks in the top 10 in school history in games, at-bats, runs, hits, RBIs, stolen bases and total chances.

Shank is spending this off-season back home in Pennsylvania training and working -- he's got a job at UPS. In March, He'll report to Peoria, Ariz., for spring training.